yekmel refugee camp for kurds. refugees are being transported from yekmel to another camp in zakho by american troops during the operation provide comfort - an allied effort to aide the refugees who fled saddam hussein’s rule. 11 may 1991. © CORBIS.
I was 8 months oldcan you please tell us how the camp was like from insight of your mother or father?
I’m not certain as to whether or not my family spent anytime at this particular camp, however we did spend time near and around the town/village of Bileh. The conditions were so disgusting from what my mom retells.On the way to Bileh, my mom says children were abandoned, elders died and were left on the ground without a burial. All because their families were trying to escape death. But the most memorable story my mom has told me since I was 9 is the one about a young mother. Like I said, I was an 8 month infant at the time and conditions in the mountains are horrible during March in Kurdistan (spring having not yet arrived). One night my mom brought me over to one of the camp fires at the camp we were positioned in to try and keep me alive. She sat amongst the group and didn’t notice anything at first. After a while she took a closer look and was filled with anguish when she realized the young lady next to her was craddling her dead child. She later came to learn that the rest of the women knew the situation but no one had the heart to inform the young girl. There are other stories she tells, specifically about our family and our personal hardships, the inhumane behaviour of the Turkish army, the generosity of Bakuri Kurds and other details about her experiences. Which will be published one day :)
I don’t smoke but I keep a match box in my pocket. When my heart slips towards a sin, I burn a match stick and heat my palm. Then I say to myself:
‘Ali You can’t bear even this heat, how would you bear the unbearable heat of Hell?’
- Muhammad Ali
NY under water.
The eye-catching swimming pool in Mumbai, India, has been built to raise awareness about the threat of sea level rises as a result of global warming.
It was constructed by attaching a giant aerial photograph of the New York City skyline to the floor of the pool.